Saturday, December 5, 2015

For my Chattanooga People -if you use coupon code: CHATTANOOGA - you can pick them up (before 12/15) and not pay shipping costs. Or my Wilmington People - use coupon code: WILMINGTON - to pick them up between 12/17-12/21 in Delaware!

Friday, May 23, 2014

Ok. Its been a while. We've been busy doing boring finishes on our house (aka trim, molding, and cleaning). And we've been growing a baby (due this summer)- so that takes up a lot of time!

But we've worked on a few projects recently that I want to share. We are finally getting into the fun part of re-doing a house - decorating!!!!!(insert a big squeal here)!!!

This trash picked bookcase had gotten abused over the past two years and I didn't like the red color in our living room. So I cleaned it off and got to painting it with some leftover paint we had in the basement.

This is it right after we trashed picked it - we were using it as a drying rack

And this is it in our old home (silly me forgot to take a before picture)

I added gold stripes down the sides and on the top to give it a pop and tie it in with the beige walls in our living room. I was really concerned that this paint job would be messed up real fast like the other one with all the books that I would like to have on it. So I checked my handy painting guide in the back of Young House Love'sBook - and they recommended Polycrylic. So I got it (that stuff is expensive, yo!) - and put three coats on. So far it is already holding up better than the red paint job - YAY!

I love it! It was really fun to get back into painting and being creative. I've missed that - dang first trimester!

I've never been one to "style" a book case - so this is a first for me. What do you think? It feels wrong to put things other than books on the shelves. :-)

Please excuse the messy books- I have a toddler that likes to "rearrange" them

So needless to say our first night and morning were a wake up call about how much I think I deserve all these "conveniences" - because lets face it majority of people in the WORLD don't have access to AC, hot water, Internet, or ice - and a lot of them have no need for interior doors. So I really shouldn't complain - but man are we living a privileged life here in Middle Class America. (OK my rant is done!)

In our defense, it was hot out this week. With temperates in the low 90s in the afternoon this brick house soaked it up and was pretty warm in the evenings - try around 85 in the house at bedtime. Tempers were a litter higher than usual for all three of us, too!

But TODAY - we are getting a new HVAC - hallelujah. Thank you Jesus!

Those house is livable but still unfinished in many aspects. By now we do have a working kitchen sink, pots, pans, ice, Internet, silverware, and a bathroom door!

Life is good around here - enjoying our new home and neighborhood. This weekend we will be cleaning out and saying goodbye to our old apartment! Sorry new house - you'll have to wait until next weekend to get more doors!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

We have been moving, moving, moving for the past week or so! How exhausting. We have been taking small trips over everyday with a trailer attached to our Accord. Needless to say, we can't take ALOT - but we are slowly emptying out our apartment.

The house is far from done- there are a lot of little touch ups that need to be finished (trim, window casings, interiors doors, etc). But those will come in due time.

We have been focusing on getting our Kitchen and Bathroom done - so its livable!

Here is how to the house is looking currently and we rush to finish the Kitchen this week.

I grouted the floor last weekend and installed that fan - all by myself! Wohoo!

Living Room

This is the fan that shocked me. I totally forgot to cut the power before I touched the wires while installing the fan. Man did that tingle! No harm was done and I didn't fall off the ladder.

Master

Kids Room

Bathroom

We have moved all out boxes and stuff into the basement of the house. This weekend we'll be working on moving furniture - and hopefully sleeping in this house by Monday night.

Also - our HVAC broke a month ago in this house - so that will hopefully be fixed by Monday, too! (By the way - replacing a HVAC is crazy expensive!)

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

This week we finished the hardwood floors, put up some cabinets, and started priming the ceiling and walls. This weekend we will be painting the rooms!

Soon we'll be getting appliances and working on the kitchen and bathroom flooring. There are so many decision that have to be made concerning the house - its just a little bit crazy. I had no idea it would be so hard just choosing a fan or light fixture!

Here are the update pictures:

The Kitchen is starting to look like a kitchen! Wohoo!

The living room floors are done! Look at that room - it is bigger than it looks in this picture. Hello Baby T!

The two bedrooms pretty much look the same as last time - but the floors are finished!

There has been no change in the bathroom. We did find some flooring for it over the weekend - I cannot wait to see it that room.

So there you have it. There are still many things to get done before we start to move in. Upcoming projects include:

Painting the walls and ceiling

Adding trim and window casings

Laying down bathroom and kitchen floor

Installing lighting and fans (after I pick some out)

So here goes! Hopefully only a month and half until move in (fingers crossed)!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Over Memorial Day weekend we were able to hang some drywall in the house. It looks good to have some walls. There is still a long to-do list - but the drywall makes it feel a little closer to livable!

Here is a room by room update.

Living Room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Master

Tori's Room

Basement - AKA Storage Center

Yes, It is messy in there right now. But some progress is being made. If you missed it - here is the post about what the house orginally looked liked when we bought it.

Some of you might be interested in a house layout. These measurements are all approximate. As you can see it is not very big, but we love it anyway. It is a strong house in a great neighborhood! On top of that we are learning a lot about home renovation and trying to live within our means. This is in no way our FOREVER home - so I've had to compromise on some things - but this is our temporary home and we'll love it just the same!

Since the last post we installed NEW WINDOWS! Nate did this all by himself with the help from friends (thanks friends!). Here's how it looks from the front and back with the new windows (We hope to put new windows in the basement - but that is something that could wait).

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

It was built in the 1950 and is fully brick. It is a small two-bedroom, one bath, 1,000 square foot home. It has an amazing 600 square foot basement (not included in the 1,000 square foot living space) and is in one of our favorite neighborhoods. And.... its a fixer upper.

Front Living Room

Kitchen

Baby Girl's Future Room

Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Awesome Basement

As you can see from the pictures - the entire house was done in paneling, it needs new windows, a new roof, a whole new kitchen, and updated flooring. Not to mentioned a new bathroom and some serious lawn help.

Like any naive ambitious first time home buyer - we thought we could knock all these out and move in by May 1st, June 1st at the latest. You know, three months seems like a reasonable time frame to tackle all those projects, right? *cue the laughing*

Well it is almost June - and this is what the house looks like today (same as it did 3 weeks ago if you follow me on Instagram) -

Bathroom, Kitchen, Tori's Room, and Master

Yeah... we won't be moving anytime soon.

We have had a few set backs - as there usually are in any fixer-upper. And we totally underestimated having a baby and trying to fix this up. Since I am a stay-at-home mom to a 6-month-old-exclusively-breastfed-likes-to-be-held-all-the-time-mommy's-girl I have been able to do little to help with the house. Baby Girl can't be over there right now with the dust and loud tools. And lets not forget that Hubby has a full time job - and takes Sundays off!

So now I am praying we move in before September 1st, feel free to pray with me - Lord knows we need all the prayers we can get.

So, there you have it, we have learned our lesson (never buy a fixer upper you can't live in while you have a young baby) and are continuing to learn lessons as we go (like everything takes at least 3 times as long as you think it will)!

I'll soon keep you updated about what we plan to do to each room and some other things we've accomplished since buying the house almost 3 months ago.